What We Offer

WORK WITH MEANING

When you work at Planet Organic you know that we are a company that makes a positive contribution to the world that we live in. Our agenda is to continue to be at the forefront of the health revolution and to promote organic food and sustainable agriculture. We promote local food where we can and eating seasonally. And we mean it: we do what we do because it is the right thing to do, not because it’s the right thing to say.

We hope you’ll get satisfaction from working in a positive environment with ethical values. You’ll be contributing to promoting healthy lifestyles within the community, educating our customers by sharing your knowledge and recommendations. You’ll be advising our customers on the benefits of eating wholesome, organic food and using natural products to enhance their lives. Hopefully you’ll benefit from what you learn here too.

YOUR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Before you start work in one of our stores, you’ll learn about the Planet Organic story, the business and the people involved. We’ll then develop your knowledge of food and nutrition by guiding you through our Bronze Pack. It contains fundamental information on organic and natural foods and you’ll be introduced to some of the key concepts behind cutting edge healthy eating trends. Some of your training will be tailored to the department in which you work. So for example, if you work on Food to Go you’ll have comprehensive training on the technical aspects of making great coffee and learn about the health benefits of our juices.

Your first couple of days will be spent at Head Office and you’ll get to meet new starters from other stores. We’ll take you through our customer service standards and expectations, and show you how to deliver it. We’ll then go into more detailed product knowledge. Afterwards, we’ll give you our Silver Pack to deepen your product knowledge even further; you’ll need to complete it within 3 months.

During your 3 month probation period you’ll have support meetings with your manager and a review at the end. When you have successfully completed your probation we can look at further opportunities for your development: you might do a food safety course, or a supplier training; you might even go on a farm walk, or visit one of our suppliers. We also offer management development training for Team Leaders and Managers. Later on, your annual review will give you the opportunity to revise your development plan together with your manager.

We advertise our vacancies internally each week and you are welcome, after the successful completion of your probation, to apply. There are many examples of people who have progressed from Team Member to Head Office or even to Store Manager!

BENEFITS

We offer all employees a generous 25% staff discount, 28 days’ holiday for store teams (with extra holiday for those with long service), childcare vouchers, contributions to a pension and a cycle to work scheme. Some positions offer a bonus scheme, private healthcare and eye care vouchers. For our stores teams we also offer various awards in recognition of delivering great service.

For Team Members we offer a competitive starting rate of £8 or £8.27 for our Food to Go department. If you work in Health & Bodycare, you’ll start on a higher rate of £9.33 due to your expertise and qualifications in this area.

We think it’s crucial to recognise good performance and reward our people for it. You too could be a future winner of one of our awards:

Planet Player of the Month

You can nominate any member of the company if you think they have done a particularly good job. The best nominee from each store will win Planet Player of the Month and receive a Planet Organic voucher.

Planet Player of the Year

If your performance is consistently outstanding you might even
be nominated to be a Planet Player of the Year.
This is usually one person from each store. If you win, you might enjoy
some of the following prizes that have been awarded in the past:
an all expenses trip to Tuscany, Berlin or Copenhagen; a 7 course tasting menu at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant; a mini I-Pad or afternoon tea at a 5 star hotel!

Mystery Shopper Prize

If your name is mentioned by our mystery shopper for having given excellent customer service then you will also receive a Planet Organic voucher.

Barista of the Year

If you fancy yourself as an expert coffee maker then this might be your chance
to shine and win the top prize.

Farm Walks

Each year we offer these beautiful walks so that you can experience a
working organic farm in action. You might see rare breeds of cattle and pigs, taste a freshly picked organic carrot from the field, walk with the
chickens roaming free amongst the trees or witness the production of
organic mozzarella. It is truly a great day out in the countryside.

Visit an apiary

Dress in in a beekeeper suit and witness the inner workings of a beehive in a local London apiary.

Supplier visitsYou might visit one of our suppliers. Some of our past visits have included
a trip to one of our yoghurt suppliers in the Welsh valleys, and to our
organic produce suppliers.

Planet Party

It’s not all work and no play! We like to get everyone together each year for a party.
You can bring your family members and even your children to relax and have some fun. We’ll serve you some delicious organic food and as much organic wine
and beer as you care to drink!

WHAT IS IT LIKE TO WORK HERE?

We conducted a focus group recently and these are some of things people said about their experience of working with us:

"The organisation is growing and it’s a place where you’re not a number, you’re a person."

"I was impressed by the team, the customer service and the ethos."

"I like the prospects, the opportunity for career advancement and the ability to improve my organic knowledge, to discover and learn."

"It’s a similar job to the one that I used to do but done in a better way, I really trust the products."

"I have the ability to change things quickly; it feels more like a family."

"I had worked for a really big retailer and I didn’t feel I was utilising my skills or that I had enough autonomy and when I came in for an interview I was blown away by the passion of the people who worked here."